Hi all,
Just recently picked up an 04 Disco II.

I wish I could say I'm in love with it, but I may not have been careful enough.

Here's my story:

I had decided on a Disco because I needed a vehicle big enough to fit a rear facing car seat (more difficult than it seems, pretty much only full sized SUV's). I'm a complete noob to LR's, did a good amount of reading up about them, and settled on an 04 Disco. Plus, I wanted it to take it up to the mountains for winter skiing.

I test drove about 3 of them and I immediately felt the difference with this one. Exterior was extremely nice, most pics you can't see all the little scratches that you see in person. This one was white and besides a scuff on one door, it was otherwise in extremely good shape. It was at a dealer and he said he got it from a repo auction. I test drove it, checked a few things that I could. Dealer hand changed all fluids, so everything was fresh, a little bit of smoke coming from the oil filler cap when I removed it. It was all as expected for a 10yo truck with 140k miles on an 04 for $5,500. Compared to the other's I drove, it was excellent, nice responsiveness, brakes were good, nearly new tires. I took it up to 75MPH on the freeway and no major rattles or overheating. No smoke. The only thing was that it didn't have an original key due to being a repo. Admittedly, my biggest mistake was not crawling underneath the car and looking for oil leaks at that very moment. I did check on the floor and he said it had been parked there for a while without any leaks.

I even slept on it for a month, kept looking around and while there's discos at every price level, this one was the nicest one I had seen for the money.

I live in TX, but working away from home at a military base. Over the holidays, I decided to buy it. I knew I was going to have to leave it parked for another month or so before I could bring it back to the base with me. So I paid for it, cleaned it up, conditioned the leather, and left it behind.

The first warning was it was leaving some oil drips, so I left an oil drip pan underneath to protect the driveway somewhat and left for the base. A week later, my wife tells me the pan is overfilling. Not a huge amount, but because the driveway is sloped, it's about to spill over and make a mess. Still way too much oil to be dripping out of a 1-week parked car.

I nicely called the dealer up, he sent one of his guys to pick it up and has it relisted for sale on his small warehouse lot as a consignment. He's been really cool about this and he doesn't want me to get stuck with a lemon and with tax returns coming for people, he thinks he could sell it slightly higher. I'm fine, I get what I paid and he gets whatever is over that amount. If it sells, it will be a win-win for both of us.

Throughout all of this, I've only seen the car the day I test drove it, then the weekend that I bought it, and I've been away the rest of the time. I let the dealer know to lightly tighten the valve covers bolts as a first check. I'm not even sure at this point how bad it's still leaking.

But I'm still here, just wanted to say hello and remind everyone that a PPI is still a cheap insurance, even on a $5k car. I like diy'ing and wouldn't be too afraid to take on a valve gasket or oil drain pan gasket job. I'm just hoping it's not the head gasket. I just don't have the time to take on that project on the limited weekends that I get outside of work.

My story is ongoing, we'll see how it continues to play out.

 

welcome
headgasket usually pukes up coolant, not oil.
good luck with it, either way.

 

When I got my 04 it was leaking everywhere pretty much. Once you remedy all that. It's a pretty good truck, Maintenance is a big must, Buy an ultragauge, stock temp gauge is a POS. NEVER EVER overheat it....ever, make sure you have more than 1 zerk fitting on your front drive shaft. Some good reading is in the "sticky" threads of the D2 section. Highly recommend. What base do you work at? I was out in Bliss & White Sands, nice country out there. I miss those "self service garages" on base.

 

Yeah, it's hard for me to diagnose it from the pic or ask my wife to try, but the oil in the pain does look more watery and coolant green. Could even be a cracked block.

 

Definitely looks like some water in there, but that could be from "outside contamination" from the elements just from being on the ground and what not. I would check for codes even if check engine light is not on, Used Dealerships can be D bags and tape over them. Oil Pan and valve cover gaskets should get some attention/replace. Probaly good idea to do a Cooling system pressure test too. Harbour freight has a decent kit that will work, Ultraguage is a must.